This is my first review for the Schoolhouse Review Crew and I’m lucky enough to get the chance to review the subscription to SchoolhouseTeachers.com from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.
It’s a bit overwhelming at first because there are so many subsections and you don’t know where to start first. There are lessons for children from pre-k to high school. I don’t have any high school students, so I didn’t spend much time there.
We love lapbooks here and I was excited to find a lapbooking section in the early elementary section. Each month, there is a new lesson and then another file for the actual mini books. They’re made from the people from Hands of a Child and I love their lapbooks.
There are also monthly lesson plans in a variety of subjects such as
- history
- math
- science
- literature
- music
- technology
- writing
- geography
The authors who create the lesson plans are well known in their field. I was looking forward to their history lessons by Diana Waring, however, she’s out sick for a bit and they have a replacement.
Out of the freebies that are offered: planners, TOS ebooks, TOS thematic usits, TOS monthly magazine and access to back issues, and TOS webminar sessions. I enjoyed the planner. I printed one out for my middle schooler.
The site is organized by age and then by subject. I’ve spent 2 weeks on this site and still haven’t been able to look at everything. I enjoy their dailies section. Everyday there is a new activity for games, math, copywork, grammar, explorers, writing, ditch they desk (hands on learning), history, pre-k activities and get this simply Shakespeare. I’ve used the copywork, grammar, and pre-k activities. They’ve been nice, they add a little variety to our regular programs.
The daily copywork assignment covered a variety of subjects from geography, literature, and non-fiction selections. There is both a manuscript and cursive model to write from and space to do so. The everyday games section has an easy game to print out. We played one about contractions. All you need is a counter, we used almonds, and a dice which we had from another board game. You roll the dice and then land on two words and have to find the contraction in the middle of game board. This was timely since I had been reviewing contractions with him prior to the game coming out.
They even have a daily assignment on Canada. There’s a unit study on exploring Canada by each province. I love that. I’m definitely going to work that into our schedule.
I have been using it as a supplement but I can definitely see it being used as a core program.
I was looking forward to the literature section to get some ideas for new books to study but the ones that they had lessons for, we either read already or I wasn’t interested in. While there is a great amount of information on a variety of subjects with new lessons each month, if you are not studying that specific subject, it leaves you looking for something else particularly science or history since we’re studying a specific era or topic. So more general areas like math, grammar or writing can be worked into your schedule more easily.
It’s still a great deal considering all the lessons and freebies you have access to, you can also try it out for one month for only $1. The only problem you should have is finding the time to incorporate everything.
For $5.95 per month or a full year subscription for $64.26 $49, there’s a special promotion going on now, you can get access to a wide variety of material and some freebies that are included as well.
To purchase your own subscription visit: The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
To read other reviews, visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew.
Visiting from the Crew! I enjoy reading your blog! I also have some goals for the year…I have my goals set, my challenge is consistency!